


Warmth

by victorybc



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes and Small Animals, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-02-06 23:18:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1876266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victorybc/pseuds/victorybc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After they begin living with each other, Steve starts noticing certain things about Bucky, like how he loved to feel the sunshine on his skin, or how he made an effort to pet every dog he saw and smell every flower he passed, and how he never went a morning without closing his eyes and reveling in the feeling of a hot cup of coffee. Steve's asked him about it, about all the small things that he does that he never did before, and Bucky just smiled at him and pulled him close.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Unabashed fluff based off this post by stereobone  
> \- http://stereobone.tumblr.com/post/83351799081/bucky-taking-the-time-to-do-things-he-never-got-to
> 
> Also featuring: my love of Bucky loving coffee.

Steve's noticed, in the few months that they've lived together, that Bucky likes to get up before the sun to watch it rise. Bucky likes to sit on the fire escape on the side of their building and watch the sun paint the Potomac River's cool blues into warm reds as he breathes in the chilly air that has yet to be warmed by the day. Some days, Steve wakes up to find Bucky staring at the wall opposite their bed, watching how the sun paints the white paint a warm yellow, his left arm around his knees and his right hand hovering in front of his face, casting shadows in silence.  
Most days, though, Bucky keeps Steve under the covers, lying still as the sun pours in through the window above their bed and warms their skin. Steve's noticed Bucky how stretches out like a cat in any patch of sun, eyes closed and face smooth and relaxed, the smallest of smiles playing on his lips as he tips his head back and stretches his arms above his head, feeling all the sun has to offer him.

Steve learns how Bucky takes his coffee when they stay at home, and that Bucky is embarrassingly self-indulgent when it comes to his cream and sugar and the weekly trips to expensive coffee shops. It only takes a month for Bucky to have tried every drink on the menu of the Starbucks down the street, and then make his way through every coffee shop within two streets of their DC apartment, and his apparent newfound love of frozen coffee surprises Steve. Bucky jokes Steve constantly for drinking hot coffee in the sweltering DC summers while he drinks his frappucinos, throwing self-satisfied grins at the sweat running down Steve's neck. When Bucky finds the java chip flavored ice cream in the supermarket, Steve thinks there's something wrong when he hears the sharp gasp Bucky lets out, but then he can't stop smiling at the excitement in Bucky's voice when he sees the reason.  
Steve starts surprising him by sneaking the ice cream into their shared freezer whenever they're almost out.

Steve's also noticed over their few months of living together that Bucky drags him into every flower shop they pass to breathe in the smells of every bud known to man. Even at huge chain supermarkets Bucky will pull Steve to the coolers where they keep the small bouquets and press his face into the cool petals as he breathes deeply, eyes closed and lashes pressed against his cheeks. Steve takes him to every greenhouse and garden in the city, and shows him the fields of red and yellow tulips growing all around the small streets and museums. When Steve finds a book titled  _The Secret Language of Flowers_  in a secondhand store, he sneaks it under Bucky's pillow and starts buying him flowers every week, different kinds from different shops all around the city, checking the meanings and choosing certain ones on purpose to convey how he feels that day, just to see Bucky smile that small smile and close his eyes to breathe in the flowers' smell. Steve won't ever admit how lovely Bucky looks with a bouquet of red camellias pressed to his face, but he begins buying more and more bouquets of those just to see the sight more often. One week, Bucky surprises Steve with a bouquet of daffodils in the vase on his side of the bed. When Steve uses Bucky's book (still beneath his pillow, though Steve knows Bucky's used it by the dog-eared pages) to find the meaning, he smiles to himself with teary eyes.  
Steve presses two of the white petaled flowers in his sketchbook, one for him and one for Bucky. 

One day, almost a year since they started living together, there's an adoption fundraiser in front of the Washington Monument, and Steve takes Bucky with the hopes of finding a pet to solidify their life together. It's an odd reason, Steve knows, but he feels like all of this finally feel real if there's another living being involved, that he'll stop having to pinch himself whenever he wakes up with Bucky's arm slung across his chest or when he walks into the kitchen and finds Bucky already there, drinking coffee with a sleepy smile reserved only for him.  
And so he takes Bucky under the guise that it's just another walk around the city, but the way Bucky's eyes light up when he sees all the pets out on the lawn is the best thing Steve has ever seen.  
"You planned this didn't you?" Bucky asks, as he's walking around looking starry eyed at all the dogs.  
Steve grins, watching Bucky like he hung the sun that's bathing their skin with warmth. "I may have, or we may have just happened to walk into a large crowd of dogs on accident." Bucky grins widely back at him and takes Steve's hand in his, leading him around the park to say hello to every dog and person they run into on their walk.  
Steve leaves for a second to buy them some dog treats and burgers for themselves, and when he comes back, Bucky is sitting cross-legged in the grass next to an older woman, rubbing the belly of a large, three-legged dog.  
He tries not to break at how happy Bucky looks, sitting in the sun, beaming down at this dog like he just found the reason for living. Bucky smiles largely at Steve when he sees him.   
"Sorry, Steve, but I think I found the new love of my life," Bucky says, and he sounds happier than Steve's ever heard.  
"She's a mastiff and rottweiler mix, sweetest dog in the world. As you can tell," the older woman smiles kindly at Steve as he sits next to Bucky and lets the dog sniff him happily. "No one's shown any interest in her before you two, though, because of her leg, I suppose. I'm glad you two came along so she'll have a good home with someone who'll take care of her."  
Steve turns and scrunches his eyebrows at Bucky, who stays remarkably focused on the dog rolling about in front of him.  
"I may have already said we'd adopt her while you were gone," Bucky mumbles quickly, and though Steve can't fully see his face, he can see the shy smile toying at Bucky's lips, with the knowledge that they'll take her home with them no matter what. Steve sighs in mock annoyance, but pulls the dog treats from his pocket and hands them to Bucky, and Bucky smiles, seeing the gesture for what it is.

"I think we should name her Cara," Bucky murmurs quietly, looking down with joy at the dog beside him. Cara tilts her head back up at Bucky and looks for all the world like she's smiling with as much joy as him.   
They're walking home from the park, having already eaten their burgers and given almost all the dog treats (as well as nearly a quarter of Bucky's own burger) to Cara, who's walking happily with her strange little gait at Bucky's side. Steve smiles and takes Bucky free hand in his, the metal one, but he doesn't mind.  
"Cara it is then," he replies, just as quietly, squeezing Bucky's hand a just a little together.  
They walk in a comforting silence the rest of the way home, and as he watches Bucky beaming into the afternoon sun, Steve doesn't think he could ever be happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Daffodils meaning: "You're the only one" , "The sun is always shining when I'm with you"  
> Camellias are a good luck gift for a man, and red camellias mean "you are the flame of my heart."  
> I kind of just want to write a fic entirely about Bucky and Steve giving each other flowers that mean different things now.  
> Cara means beloved.
> 
> Find me on tumblr where I'll be crying over these two dummies.  
> superagentfalcon.tumblr.com


End file.
